AC February 2021

Blue polka dot border

Guidance:&nbsp; We are continuing to work on our guidance goals! Students are making great progress!

Resource: We are so happy to be using the 95% program in the Learning Lab.

In January, we started a unit learning about space, the sun, and the stars.&nbsp;Ms. Gardner worked with the class to learn several “space themed” vocabulary words and we made “craters” from sand and built rockets to launch.&nbsp;We even got to make a special astronaut snack!&nbsp;As part of the unit, we will also be taking some “virtual” field trips through the Clark Planetarium.

Recently we have been working really hard toward being “super readers” and have been discussing strategies and criteria to improve our reading comprehension.

We have been working hard on all three types of writing in first grade.&nbsp;We have learned about Narrative Writing, Informative Writing, and Opinion Writing.&nbsp;We are learning how to use success criteria to evaluate our writing and set goals to make our writing even better.

In math, we are learning about place value and problem solving.&nbsp;We love to work with buddies to teach each other math.&nbsp;

Grey polka dot border

Hello! How time flies when you are working hard and having fun!&nbsp;We have been busy learning many new things! We just finished our math unit on dividing fractions and the reasoning behind the process and started our new unit on arithmetic in base ten. We are so proud of how hard the kids have worked to understand&nbsp;these concepts!&nbsp; We have also been working on informative writing along with learning to use a rubric to assess their writing. It is helpful for them to see where they are at and where they are going!&nbsp;We've also done plenty of reading, summarizing, and inferring in between.&nbsp; In Science,&nbsp;we are learning all about the planets. The kids have gotten pretty good at being able to differentiate the different phases of the moon.&nbsp;

As a classroom team, we also worked on our first aid skills and were certified at the district. Hopefully, we NEVER need to use those skills but it feels really great to be prepared.

We recently started working on CVC spelling as a whole class and our students have loved crafting words with whiteboard markers, play-doh, and even their hands with ASL fingerspelling. We will begin using CVC words to respond to text, images, and questions in the next few weeks.

Third graders&nbsp;have made TREMENDOUS progress on their opera! Ask them about their libretto - each child has written at least one line in the opera! We can't wait to work with a professional composer to set their libretto to melodies next month.

Fourth graders and Mrs. McNees' class&nbsp;have been talking in-depth about Utah history, and are working on a program to share with you. Ask them about the song Old Brass Wagon; what does a wagon have to do with Utah history?! They can also show off their rhythm mastery by performing "Rocky Mountain" to different rhythms.

Science We have been exploring different forms of energy in science the past few months. Through hands-on experiments and activities, students have learned about how energy is present in circuits and magnets as well as discovering how energy is transferred to other objects through collision and in waves. Recently, some of our fourth grade students participated in a science extension activity on a Friday focusing on how potential and kinetic energy is found in roller coasters and how heat energy is observed in heat shrinkables. We look forward to the rest of our fourth graders experiencing this same extension activity in the next few weeks.&nbsp;We are wrapping up our energy unit and will be moving on to exploring the Earth and Sun.

Antelope Canyon Families, We know most of you can't visit the school right now so we are bringing what we're doing at school to you! In the upcoming pages, each grade level or team shares what they've been learning over the past few months along with new learning on the horizon. Thank you for sharing your amazing, kind, thoughtful, and brilliant children with us each day. We genuinely love them and are grateful to celebrate their successes and helping them through their struggles. Tami Bird Principal

Some High Notes: Ask your&nbsp;kindergartener&nbsp;to teach you the Heel Toe Polka, and dance along to music on YouTube - "Heel Toe Polka (Brown Jug Polka)" by Wongawilli. Be careful at the end--it gets faster!&nbsp;

First graders&nbsp;have been working on the instrument families, and finally got to watch some fun videos to hear how they sound. We are working on a Mother Goose program, so listen for some familiar rhymes! Second grade&nbsp;is working on seasonal songs, including a performance coming soon! Each class is learning a different song on the colorful Boomwhackers, and have been practicing their dance moves with Paw Paw Patch.

Academic Communication 4-5th Grades During the month of December, our class studied holidays around the world.&nbsp;We colored poinsettias, listened to traditional Christmas songs from several countries, played the dreidel game, made our own “wooden” shoes, and had a visit from Sinterklaas.&nbsp;One of our online students even zoomed in to give us a presentation on Diwali celebrations in India.&nbsp;We had so much fun learning about traditions in other countries and sharing some of our own family traditions.

We recently started the DARE program with the West Jordan Police Department. Officer Peterson, who is a 33 year police officer veteran, is an amazing asset to our community and school. We are thankful to be learning how to make better choices for our future.&nbsp; STEM has definitely been a favorite of all the kids. The things these kids know are astounding! They've had many opportunities in STEM to learn how to code on different&nbsp;sites. Last week, all the classes learned about the amazing Rube Goldberg. The students were then able to create their own chain reactions.&nbsp; In addition to all the special classes we've been able to have, we are lucky to have Meet the Masters art volunteers coming in to teach us. So far, we've learned about the realism of Hopper and the surrealist and abstract art of Miro. We demonstrated an understanding of these artists' special techniques by creating our own masterpieces. Thanks to all the volunteers who are helping out with this amazing program!

Thank you to all those parents who have supported us so far this year! Despite all the craziness of this unprecedented school year, your children are learning and thriving!&nbsp;

Of course, we love the holidays and had to have a little fun with that, too! Each sixth grade class created their own holiday themed bulletin board. We were blown away by their creativity!&nbsp;

What we have been up to these past few months and where are we headed?

Speech &nbsp; We had so much fun this winter learning with all of our kids in class. Our favorites included, “Do you want to Build a Snowman?” and learning to write sentences with the EET tool. We are really looking forward to Groundhog’s Day! It’s my favorite holiday, and we have many fun activities planned to support our students sound and language development&nbsp;while also enjoying this special time of year.

Welcome to our amazing student teacher, Mrs. Davies!

Moving Forward Math - The rest of February we will continue learning how to subtract two-digit numbers from two and three-digit numbers. We will learn about graphing as well. In March we are going to learn about telling time to the nearest hour, ½ hour and 15 minutes.&nbsp;

English/Language Arts - We will continue to work on HD Reading and 95% group to help all of our students reach their reading goals. We are going to develop the comprehension skills of sequencing and summarizing the main events in a passage. In spelling, we are doing contractions, irregular plural nouns and suffixes. In grammar, we will learn about subject-verb agreement, adjectives and irregular verbs. 

Thank you for reading our book and being involved in your child's learning. We LOVE working with such wonderful students and families.

Reading &amp; Writing Our students have been working hard at building their opinion and informational writing skills. We wrote an opinion essay about whether or not fourth graders should have cell phones. Your children started with a draft and typed and revised their draft multiple times by themselves and with a partner. We have recently transitioned into informational writing and are working on a new essay about the characteristics of ants. We are excited to see what the finished product will look like!&nbsp; Math We moved on from multiplication and are now hard at work on division. Division is a tricky concept, but your children have been working hard and are doing an excellent job! We spent a lot of time discussing the connections between multiplication and division and how they are related. We are impressed with how well our students have been able to express their thinking and understanding of such a complicated concept. We will continue to work on division with 4 digit dividends with an emphasis on our students being able to explain what is happening as they work through the process of division. We are proud of their hard work!

Things Coming Up in Math: *4 digit by 1 digit division *Fractions Things Coming Up in Reading: *Continue Opinion &amp; Informational Writing *Inferring

We have been working so hard! We learned all about winter and penguins. We have been learning how to write two sentences. One of the favorite things to do in kindergarten is called, write around the room! Students love finding pictures throughout the room and then practice writing words.&nbsp; Coming up, we are learning about national and state symbols. Our kindergarten students have loved learning about our country. We are also looking forward to our big kindergarten art day in February!

Since November, 5th grade has been doing so much! We are loving our new science curriculum and how hands-on it is! Miss Andy's class has been learning all about weathering and erosion with soil and rock formations. They've been doing experiments with different&nbsp;rocks and soils and how they interact with different substances. Mrs. Thacker's class has been experimenting with worms and how the worm life-cycle&nbsp;works. Her class created their own compost, as well as&nbsp;grew their own wheatgrass. Mrs. Palmer's class has been experimenting with models, mixtures, solutions, weights and scales to learn more about matter.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Since we've come back from winter break, we are so lucky to be learning&nbsp;how to play the ukulele&nbsp;with Mrs. Elliot! Each child has&nbsp;their own ukulele to play and is&nbsp;learning how to sight read and play different notes. A giant thanks goes out to Mrs. Elliot for all she's doing for us!

January/February We started off the new year by learning about sound in science.&nbsp;We have been experimenting with how vibrations create sound.&nbsp;We have also learned about how to make sounds loud and soft and how to change the pitch.&nbsp;We are looking forward to learning about light in February.

We were hoping to catch snowflakes with our tongues unfortunately, we haven’t got much snow yet.&nbsp;

Where we have been: Math: We finished our multiplication and division units where we dug deep into understanding how and why they work. The students are now working on gaining fluency for their facts 0-10. If you ask your student to sing you a skip count song, they will gladly show off their skills.

Reading &amp; Writing: We just finished our compare and contrast unit. The students did an incredible job of being able to find the similarities and differences in a text. After they were able to find those, they were able to create a Venn Diagram, fill out a 4-square graphic organizer, and then use success criteria to write a paragraph that matched the prompt. We have some awesome little authors here in third grade. Language: We've focused on phonics skills and how to decode words. The students are working hard to fill in their gaps and strengthen their understanding of how to decode and read unfamiliar words. Students are making excellent growth and we cannot wait to see their growth at the end of the year!

Where we are going: Math: Bakers get your kitchens ready!&nbsp;In just a few short weeks we will be starting our fraction unit. The students love this unit because everything is so new to them and they have a lot of hands-on activities. Make sure you ask them about the names of fractions and what the name represent! Invite your student into the kitchen and help them explore before the unit begins. Having that background knowledge of the names and sizes along with visualizing representations will help them immensely once our unit begins.&nbsp; Reading &amp; Writing: Did you know third graders have really strong opinions about things? They are loving our move to our opinion unit of writing. The students now have to find reasons and evidence from a text to support their opinion. Language: We will continue working hard on phonics skills and building academic and conversational vocabulary. Behavior: We have been working hard on being kind to others. We are also working on the skill of making friends and how to be a good friend. Make sure you ask your student the strategies they found useful to be kind and to be a good friend.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Academic Communication 1-3rd Grades As part of being “in charge of our [own] happiness”, we learned about how being different makes us special and magical. Students loved thinking of unique ways to “float” and “fly” to show off their own special talents and abilities.

In The Past Math - We explored ungrouping two digits. We also did some graphing and story problems. English/Language Arts - We moved forward in our HD reading and Haggerty.&nbsp;We also worked on spelling with long e and short e words. We are improving on our success criteria writing. We evaluated our own writing and that of our peers. We took time to rewrite our papers. We read about Helen Keller and how she was able to learn about her world without seeing or hearing.&nbsp; In writing, we have been focusing on the success criteria for informative writing and learning to use feedback to improve our own work. We wrote about safety rules in school, based on the story “Officer Buckle and Gloria”.&nbsp;We will improve this current writing based on feedback we get from peers. In March we are going to write an opinion piece about how we are like a hero based on the story “Dex: The Heart of A Hero”.

New year, new music! January brought many new songs and dances for our students. We are learning and growing in our musical development, particularly focused on keeping the steady beat when performing. January and February are exciting times in music class because we dive deeply into our musical skills, and have learned the vocabulary to self-reflect on our progress. Students are learning age-appropriate performance pieces, and we look forward to sharing them with you later this year! January also brought a big personnel change to the music classroom: Mrs. Elliot gained a student teacher, Mrs. Bawden. We have enjoyed getting to know her, showing her how musical we are! She will be with us until the end of April, learning from and with our Pronghorns!

Fifth and sixth graders&nbsp;have been working tirelessly on ukulele this winter. I am SO proud of and impressed with their efforts. They have a few chord changes under their belts, and will be building up their calluses as we learn a few more chords this year. Fifth Graders are working on a US History program and Sixth Graders on a World History program.

Name

Safari may block some audio or video from playing automatically and ‘read to me’ will skip these. You can configure this in Safari’s preferences.